35000 Homeowners Thanks To Help To Buy

Jul 2, 2014

It seems as though cities and towns across the country have been given a real boost by the Help to Buy scheme. Since its launch 14 months ago, it has helped 22,831 people get on the property ladder, new figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government show.

In May alone, the scheme enabled the purchase of 2,283 properties, according to the report.

Most of the properties bought with the support of the programme were snatched by first-time buyers – they accounted for 86% of the equity loan sales made using the scheme. A clear majority (94%) of people who bought homes under the scheme live outside the capital, with Leeds leading the chart of local authorities with 580 property deals. Next was Wiltshire with 506 purchases, followed by Central Bedfordshire with 458, Milton Keynes with 417 and Peterborough with 379.

Buyers using the Help to Buy scheme purchased their properties at an average price of £206,084 – far below the current average house price of £252,000.

The department also counted 7,313 sales through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme and another 5,173 transactions through the Help to Buy NewBuy programme. The figures suggest that since April 2013, Help to Buy has made it possible for over 35,000 Britons to buy residential property.

It’s also worth noting that all sales made through the Help to Buy equity loan scheme and 75% of the entire number of transactions carried through the various elements of Help to Buy were new-build properties.

It seems that Help to Buy has also had a positive effect on the construction industry, where house building has increased by a third compared to 2013 and is currently enjoying its strongest level since 2007.